Mum's the Word
Written by Kate Collins
Narrated by Elise Arsenault
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
Kate Collins
Kate Collins is the author of the best-selling Flower Shop Mystery series. Her books have made the New York Times Bestseller list, the Barnes & Noble mass market mystery best-sellers’ lists, the Independent Booksellers’ best-seller’s lists, as well as booksellers’ lists in the U.K. and Australia. All Flower Shop Mysteries are available in paperback, hardback and large print editions. The first three books in the FSM series are now available on audiobook. Kate’s eighteenth book in the series, MOSS HYSTERIA, is out now with her nineteenth, YEWS WITH CAUTION coming out May, 2017.In January of 2016, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel aired the first Flower Shop Mystery series movie, MUM'S THE WORD, followed by SLAY IT WITH FLOWERS and DEARLY DEPOTTED later that year. The movies star Brooke Shields, Brennan Elliott, Beau Bridges and Kate Drummond.Kate started her career writing children's stories for magazines and eventually published historical romantic suspense novels under the pen name Linda Eberhardt and Linda O'Brien.
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A Good House for Children: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Mum's the Word Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Slay It with Flowers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dearly Depotted Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Mum's the Word
161 ratings17 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Abby, new flower shop owner, is trying to build her business into a more profitable one. She doesn’t need the hassle of bogus parking tickets, having her car sabotaged, or being rammed while driving. Yet all that and more happens to her in this first book of the Flower Shop Mystery series. It’s pretty intense for a cozy. The plot is intricate and well structured, and the characters are well developed. The shop’s employees are likable, and the friendship between Abby and her roommate is well done, complete with an adorable cat. There is a love interest in the wings to add some romance, and an ex-fiancée to balance it all. Throw in a quirky mother who thinks she is an sculpting artist, and who has country club aspirations for her daughter, though the daughter doesn’t concur, and you a pretty entertaining tale.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I wanted really bad to like this. My mom LOVED this whole series - but I just felt that this cozy mystery was over the top. It's repetitive, far fetched, and there was far too many moving parts. Abby Knight dropped out of law school and bought a flower shop and a yellow Corvette. Business isn't exactly "blooming" so she passes the time by sticking her nose into everyone else's business. Abby is short, skinny, VERY busty, and has the brightest red hair for miles - so she's not exactly inconspicuous. When someone backs into her convertible and speeds away, Abby is convinced that person was a murderer after she learns that someone was murdered right around the same time and area. Abby then finds a new bar owner (who is an ex-cop and very studly) to partner up with. Filled with bad flower puns, flat characters, and an exasperating storyline. I'm really hoping the Hallmark series is a lot better. I will give the second one an attempt... someday.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is a typical cozy mystery. I was anxious towards the end for the conclusion. I think I've read too many cozies in a row. Abigail is not as bright as I would like her to be, although Marco is an interesting character. I'd like to see more of him.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was a fun start to a series. I want to read the next to see how it progresses.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This series was recommended to me by my fellow cozy readers, but I have to say, this one didn't do much for me (the books get much much better as the series progresses). I found Abby to be a bit over the top, and everyone keeps calling her a meddler and nosy. It was really off-putting to me. The mystery was good, with a lot of suspects.
Luckily my fellow readers assured me each book is better than the last, and I'm glad I stuck with the series. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Abby Knight is a florist who moonlights as what in a saner universe would be termed as dead meat. The book took a while to get going and I wasn't immediately sold on the style of the story but gradually I warmed up to the main character. For such a good book, it's surprising that the other characters weren't fleshed out. But such is the predicament of the heroine that her troubles make for an empathy ridden read. As cozy mysteries go, this one was pretty dark. At least in my book it is. In many other books of the genre, the immediate threat to the main character is sufficient enough. By that I mean the author usually is satisfied in making an attempt on the main girl's life. This book earned its four stars by almost forcing me to care for a happy go lucky woman with a short stature, a big cleavage and a bigger heart. I liked the interaction between Abby and her college crush, but just as riveting was the dialog between Abby and the dark seducer Marco. I think it's great that never once in the telling of this tale that one of the guys (good or not) was irritating. Finally I'd like to point out that here, the villain with the most onscreen time is the very same who is the culprit. It wasn't some minor character who got to be the killer. I can't emphasize enough how aching I was for Abby. I didn't care that she was fictional. Never before have I been touched by the daily ordinary but then not so ordinary struggles of our diminutive heroine. Draft me up for the second book in the series ASAP. I'm curious to know how Abby will justify breaking her promise not to meddle.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I enjoyed this book but could tell it was a first effort. Lots of back story and character development. Not much of a surprise on the "who dunnit" but she is a good writer and I'm looking forward to reading more of this series. I believe it will be a good series as it builds, it certainly has a lot of books in the list.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5a great first in a series. Loved the main characters and the setting.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I originally got this book for the February theme read in the Cozy Mysteries Book Club. I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected to. I say that because I had read other reviews not so flattering. Admittedly, Abby does go a little overboard w...moreI originally got this book for the February theme read in the Cozy Mysteries Book Club. I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected to. I say that because I had read other reviews not so flattering. Admittedly, Abby does go a little overboard with her snooping but that wasn't my problem with the beginning of the book. I guess I'm too old to appreciate that a handsome man she really didn't know basically told her to butt out of a situation, but told her she had a "pert little nose" and she was actually flattered. There were several "set women's lib back 75 years" moments, but I kept reading anyway. I'm still not too impressed with her ability to command respect from men, but she does have a lot of good points, too. Would I recommend this book? Yes, to cozy readers. I'm sure I'll read more in the series.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Abby Knigiht may have flunked out of law school and her fiance may have dropped her shortly after, but now she is doing what she loves She has opened a flower shop, owns her dream car and gets to meddle in others business as much as she like. When a young boy is murdered, Abby relizes she may have witnessed something important. I don't know. Something about this book just did not do it for me.. Abby really does meddle and seems to be just too nosy. I know that is a characteristic of most cozy mystery detectives but Abby does not even know the boy who is killed. There were some fun moments but not enough to make me really like her. She just took too many chances. I might read another in the series in the future, but not really on my list right now.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the first book in The Flower Shop Mystery Series, and I was turned on to these books by the "Mystery Book Talk" group on Ravelry (a knitting/crocheting site). It's your basic cosy, starring Abby, a law school dropout-turned-florist. She owns Bloomers, a local flower shop, competing with a new, larger discount flower shop who has just moved into the neighbourhood. She isn't a trained detective or PI, although her friends accuse her of being a chronic meddler.This story starts out with her bright yellow Corvette being the victim of a hit-and-run. She eventually figures out that the person who hit her Vette may have also been involved in a murder that police are trying to solve. Abby tries to help the police, figuring that since the cases are related, she'll be killing two birds with one stone. At the same time, one of her employees seeks her help with a relative's divorce. Although Abby doesn't typically advocate for the dissolution of marriage, when she realises that the woman is being abused, she springs into action.Soon, Abby is receiving threatening phone calls. But is it related to the domestic case or the murder case? She also starts getting help from the owner of the bar down the street. Marco is a former detective, and he used to know Abby's father, also a former detective (who was injured in the line of the duty and is now paralysed).There are several troubling bits about the plot if you think about it too hard. But it's a cosy, and I'm willing to suspend my disbelief a certain amount for a fun, light, entertaining read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Unsure of what to do with her life after dropping out of law school, Abby Knight opened up a flower shop. She loves her work, but business is slow and money is tight, so she's not thrilled when she sees someone hit her vintage Corvette and then takes off. When a murdered body is discovered not far away, Abby thinks the person that hit her car was the murderer. She's working with a hunky ex-cop to solve the murder, as well as helping a friend escape her abusive husband and soon someone is trying to kill Abby too. I have mixed feelings about "Mum's the Word". Abby, the heroine, was annoying, meddling to the point where readers could understand why someone would try to kill her. And she comes across as stupid at times, mistaking drugs for fertilizer, as a flower shop owner she should know what fertilizer looks like. No wonder she has very few customers! Marco, the leather wearing, hunk of an ex-cop is a cliché. The secondary characters, like Nikki, Abby's roommate, and Lotti and Grace, her co-workers, are far more interesting. Abby's father, an ex-cop crippled after being shot while on duty, was an interesting character and I'd like to read more about him. Finally, the flower shop set up is fun to read about. This was an okay book, with enough promise that I've already bought the next book in the series, hoping it will be a better read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This story was really very good! Had you guessing and really thinking how it would all come together...We clearly knew who the bad guys were, but not the how or whys till the very end.. :)
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After completing one year of law school, Abby Knight realizes becoming a lawyer is just not for her. Instead she decides to focus on what she is passionate about: arranging flowers. She opens up her own flower shop, Bloomers, much to her mother's chagrin. Abby's brothers are successful doctors, with country club memberships. Abby was formerly engaged to Pryce Osborne until she realized he wasn't the man she thought he was. Her mother is constantly nagging her about the choices she has made in her life and hopes she will settle down and marry soon.Next to her shop, her yellow corvette is her prized possession. As she arrives to work one morning, her vette is hit by a black SUV and the driver doesn't stop to see if she's ok. Abby quickly decides to take matters in her own hands when the police trivializes her report. Soon, she realizes that minutes prior to her car being hit, a murder took place blocks away from the accident. Abby puts two and two together and thinks the killer smashed her car while trying to get away from the scene of the crime. Despite her employee's, Grace, warnings about meddling in the police investigation, Abby finds herself in the middle and receives threats to back off the investigation. Abby enlists the help of her roommate and employees and not to mention, gorgeous Marco to solve the crime before anyone else is killed.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the opening chapter in a new series (new to me, anyway). Collins is one of the few authors I've read who have managed to write a heroine kooky enough to stand alongside Stephanie Plum. Abby's family is unique, and just goofy enough. This isn't an Evanovich clone, but this opening volley promises a pretty entertaining series.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Didn't think I would get into this, but I did. The romance angle needs some work, but the mystery and the sheer dogginess of the main character was great! Already checked out the rest in this series...
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Cute first in a series. Is this Valparaiso?